Shame punishment in Jewish legal culture: some preliminary

Hanina Ben Menahem
Shame punishment in Jewish legal culture:
some preliminary observations
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Kuna at church in Przedborz
Kuna z Przedborza (fot. Mariusz Janikowski) Obraz 1 z 2 lub wciśnij ESC
http://www.zjk.centrix.pl/index.php/2003/08/05/kuna-z-przedborza/
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St. Mary’s Basilica (Kościół Mariacki), Krakow
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ko%C5%9Bci%C3%B3%C5%82_Mariacki_Krak%C3%B3w.jpg
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Kuna at St. Mary’s Basilica, Krakow
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%9Bci%C3%B3%C5%82_Mariacki_w_Krakowie
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Exhibit of kuna, The Iron Bonds. Torture museum in Lubuska Land Museum in Zielona Góra (Poland)
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Muzeum_Ziemi_Lubuskiej__Muzeum_Tortur_-_Kuna.JPG
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Polish Wikipedia entry for ‘Kuna’ (December 18, 2011)
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuna_(narz%C4%99dzie_kary)
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Jougs at Duddingston Kirk, Scotland
The `Jougs' (from jugum, a yoke) consist of an iron collar in two halves fastened by a clasp, and are suspended by a chain
which hangs on the wall adjoining the main entrance gates to the Church.
Between the 16th and early 19th Centuries. … Parishioners found guilty of some breach of church discipline,
such as drunkenness, immorality, Sabbath breaking or blasphemy, had to undergo the humiliation of appearing for a
number of Sundays with their necks in the ‘Jougs’ before proceeding into the church for public rebuke, at the stool of
repentance.
Once a common feature of Scottish churches, the 'Jougs' at Duddingston are one of the few remaining
examples in Scotland.
Source: Dunningston Kirk website
http://www.fortunecity.com/athena/exercise/2492/DUDDINGSTONKIRK/id17.htm
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Halseisen (neck-iron), Demern Church, Mecklenburg, Germany, 15th century
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Iron-ring, Wibadi Church, Wiegboldsbur, Germany
Markets and court sessions took place in the churchyard. Still visible today is an iron
collar that attests to the former scope of ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The collar was
used to chain "criminals" to the wall, serving as a pillory.
http://www.nordwestreisemagazin.de/sbl/wiegboldsbur.html
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Iron-ring, St. Peter’s Church, Westerstede, Germany
http://westerstede.kirche-oldenburg.de/gemeindeleben/unsere-kirchen/westerstede/rundgang.html
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Ilmenau, Germany
Caption:
Pillory: For theft from gardens and fields,
receiving stolen goods, blasphemy, libel, or
in certain cases of adultery, the punishment
of the neck-iron was imposed. Convicts
usually had to stand one to two hours on
the pillory, mostly on Sundays and market
days, when deterrent effect was
particularly strong. Until the introduction
of the Criminal Code of 1839, this
dishonorable punishment was meted out.
http://de.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Datei:Ilmenau_Pranger.jpg&filetimestamp=20060705192202
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Kilmaurs, Scotland, jougs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jougs
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Locales where a synagogue with a kune has been documented
Bratislava
Gombin
Keidan
Krakow
Lezno (Lissa)
Lvov
Mattersburg/Mattersdorf
Mezeritch
Opatow
Ostrog
Pietrekow-Tribunalska
Pinchow
Pryzuscha
Przedborz
Przemysl
Radzyn
Varka
Vilna
Wyszogrod
Zabludow
map
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I.L. Peretz’s play, “In polish oyf der keyt: a holem fun a kloyznik” (“Chained in the
shul vestibule, a yeshiva student’s dream”). Blank verse in 3 acts.
Source: website of the National Library of Poland
http://www.polona.gov.pl/dlibra/doccontent2?id=8556&from=editionindex&from=$%7BsearchType%7Dsearch&dirids=3&lang=pl 14
http://dspace.wrlc.org/view/ImgViewer?url=http://dspace.wrlc.org/doc/
manifest/2041/4262
Source: Yiddish Drama Collection at the Jewish National and University15
Library
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26577116@N04/sets/72157605173229332/show/
On the etymology of the term ‘kuni leml’
4) Date: April 21, 2005
Subject: Re: kuni-leml
Hersh Hartman (vol. 14, n0. 38) asked about the meaning/derivation of kuni in kuni-leml.
Here's the information contained in Niborski's Yiddish-French dictionary. I give it, followed by my rough
translation:
kune di (s): pilori, lieu � l'entre� de la synagogue o� une personne condamne� par le tribunal
communautaire pouvait subir une exposition infamante; cellule jouxtant la synagogue o� la communaut�
pouvait enfermer un des ses membres pour une courte peine; coin de punition (�cole); leml = agneau.
kune, di (s): pillory; place at the entance of a synagogue where a person condemned by the community
court could undergo a degrading exposition; cell contiguous to the synagogue or the community building
where the community could lock in one of its members for a short punishment; corner of punishment
(school); leml: lamb.
Weinreich: pillory - der shandklots, der shandslup klots/slup - pole); v. makhn lelaag ulkeles. (H. laag/keles ridicule). Hebrew: amud-hakalon (pillar of shame).
H. klu (caph) - prison.
lam (leml) - lamb [lom - lame].
Tsanin:
kune (s) di - 1. H. nemiya - marten. 2. H. sad/mahpekets - stocks; H. tsinuk - jail, cell, goal.
Lucas Bruyn
Source: Mendele: Yiddish literature and language , Vol. 14.045 April 21, 2005
http://mendele.commons.yale.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/TxtArchive/vol14/vol14045.txt
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17
Joshua b. David Yellin, Memoirs of a Jerusalemite 1834-1918 (Hebrew), (Jerusalem: 1924)
Kune at Hurva Synagogue,
Jerusalem
As described by Joshua Yellin in
Memoirs of a Jerusalemite
--drawing by architect Moshe
Shapira
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Przysucha (Pshishcha) synagogue
http://pl.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Plik:Synagoga_przysucha.jpg&filetimestam
p=20080828065236
Kune at Przysucha (Pshishcha) synagogue
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Kune, Przysucha Synagogue
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Synagoga_w_Przysusze_05.jpg
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Old synagogue in Ostrog
http://www.jewishgen.org/ukraine/towns-gubernias/volhynia/ostrog.htm
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Gombin synagogue
Photograph of old photograph, courtesy Tomasz Wisniewski 2006
http://www.zchor.org/gombin/3photographs.htm
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Ilustrirte Velt,
Warsaw
newspaper
(Yiddish)
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Staged photograph of someone locked in the kune of the Gombin synagogue,
1919. The photo was taken to illustrate an article on the kune by the
synagogue’s rabbi, who was also a noted ethnographer.
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Great Suburban Synagogue--Lvov
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wielka_Synagoga_Przedmiejska_we_Lwowie
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Kune in Great Suburban Synagogue, Lvov
From Meir Balaban, The Jews of Lvov (1909), figure 1:34
drawing from the collection of the Pawlikowskich library [Lvov]
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Zabludow synagogue
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synagoga_w_Zab%C5%82udowie
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There can be no outrage, methinks, against our common
nature--whatever be the delinquencies of the individual-no outrage more flagrant than to forbid the culprit to
hide his face for shame; as it was the essence of this
punishment to do.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter
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